Paul Domowitch

STAFF WRITER

Paul Domowitch is a pro football writer for the Inquirer and Daily News, where he has worked since 1982. He has covered nearly 30 Super Bowls and has been a selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the last 15 years.

We’re just 5 days into the free agency signing period and Eagles fans once again are having their annual March panic attack.

Oh my God. Dawk is gone. What are we going to do for a free safety next season? Somebody call 911.

Oh my God. Correll Buckhalter is gone too. If Andy Reid thinks he can go into ’09 with Lorenzo Booker as his backup running back, he must be taking stupid pills.

Oh my God. These crazy SOBs also are letting left tackle Tra Thomas test free agency. What if they lose him too?

For crying out loud, calm down people. I understand your anger over the Eagles letting a beloved player like Dawkins leave. And while it certainly wasn’t one of their smarter public relations moves, the bottom line is his departure is going to have a minimal effect on one of the league’s best defenses.

Will he be missed in the locker room? Absolutely. Will they miss his leadership? Yes, but Jim Johnson’s talented unit has plenty of others who will step up and fill the leadership void, including cornerback Sheldon Brown, safety Quintin Mikell and linebacker Stewart Bradley.

If you’re an Eagles fan, you should be more concerned right now with the free agent reinforcements the Giants have brought in to strengthen an already potent defensive line. If you’re an Eagles fan, you should be more concerned that, for some inexplicable reason, they never went after the best offensive lineman in free agency – center/guard Jason Brown – than that they let Dawkins take a hike.

But it’s early. Too early to be making absolute judgments about this team. Too early to be suggesting, as some lunatic-fringe talk-show hosts have, that they’re in a rebuilding mode.

Let’s see what they do in the remaining months of free agency. Let’s see what they do in next month’s draft, particularly with those 2 first-round picks.

While many of the big names already have been plucked from the free agency market, there still are people out there that can help this team. There are some decent blocking fullbacks, including the Patriots’ Heath Evans and the Cardinals’ Terrelle Smith.

While there really isn’t a free agent left tackle worth signing, there still are some good interior linemen available, in case the Eagles plan to move one of their 2 starting guards – Todd Herremans or Shawn Andrews – outside to left tackle.
And there still are some pretty good unsigned safeties that can be either a starting replacement for Dawkins or a backup to Demps if they think he is ready.

As for a running back to share the load with Westbrook, who will turn 30 before next season, they’re going to have to address that in the draft, probably with one of those 2 first-round picks. Because there’s only dreck left.